Toyota Motor Corp, the fastest growing overseas car maker in China, is considering building a new plant in the country to keep up with rising sales in the world's second-largest auto market.

"We are facing a capacity shortage," Shoju Nozaki, senior vice president of Toyota Motor (China) Investment Co, said in an interview with Bloomberg News in Beijing yesterday. "We may build a new factory but nothing has been decided."

The world's second-largest auto maker boosted China vehicle sales 62 percent last year as its Camry, Corolla and Vios cars lured customers from Honda Motor Co and General Motors Corp. The company began work on its seventh Chinese factory, in the southern city of Guangzhou, last year.

"Toyota is booming in China," said Zhang Xin, an analyst with Guotai Jun'an Securities Co in Beijing. "It's becoming the biggest challenger to the market leader, Volkswagen."

Toyota aims to sell 700,000 locally made and imported vehicles in China this year. Its total production capacity in the country currently stands at 640,000 vehicles a year.

Toyota plans to begin selling Yaris compacts in China around mid-year, Nozaki said. The car will compete with Volkswagen's Polo and Mazda Motor Corp's Mazda2. It will be made by Toyota's joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group Co.

(Shanghai Daily April 18, 2008)